SMB Insurance, Robo-Advisors Prove Unexpected Winners In B2B Funding

This week’s B2B venture capital rundown includes some of the usual suspects, like blockchain and HR tech, and a few not-so-usual ones, like fleet and small business insurance. While it was a quiet week for the industry, B2B startups still managed to secure more than $190 million in funding, mostly situated in the U.S. and Singapore. A rundown of the latest investments follows below.

Bambu

Singapore’s Bambu is taking advantage of enterprise digitization with its robo-advisory service. The company announced $3 million in Series A funding this week for its technology, which provides business customers with a smart advisory solution that deploys machine learning and the company’s own algorithms. The latest funding was led by Franklin Templeton Investments, reports in Crowdfund Insider said. The investment will go toward global expansion, Bambu said, as well as to fuel AI research and expand its team.

Trucker Tools

U.S.-based Trucker Tools caught investors’ attention this week, raising $4.4 million for its freight management technologies. The company provides visibility into shipments, carrier capacity management and predictive freight-matching technologies for the transportation sector. Its Series A funding was led by current investors, the company said, though a press release announcing the funding did not specify the identity of the backers. The funding will go toward product development, enhancing its implementation team and brand development, the company said.

Anchanto

Another startup dabbling in the logistics market is Anchanto, a Singapore-based company that secured $5.45 million in Series C funding this week led by MDI Ventures, the venture capital unit of Telkom Indonesia. Anchanto’s focus is eCommerce, providing services for both B2B and B2C players with a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. The company also links these customers with warehouse management, third-party logistics, inventory management and other back-office services. A press release, announcing the funding, did not reveal how Anchanto plans to use the investment.

Greenhouse

On the human resources front, New York- and San Francisco-based Greenhouseannounced $50 million in Series D funding this week. The company provides business customers with talent acquisition services and said it would use the latest funding, led by Riverwood Capital, for growth and expansion both at home and abroad. The company is also funneling the cash into R&D efforts to explore the introduction of new products and capabilities for its recruiting, hiring analytics, staff onboarding and diversity services. Existing customers of its hiring software include J.D. Power, Warby Parker and Airbnb, the company said.

Next Insurance

The insurance industry is ripe with innovation, but it’s not every day that an insurance startup targeting small businesses will secure significant funding from investors. Next Insurance did just that this week, announcing $83 million in Series B funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round, while Nationwide, Munich Re, American Express Ventures, Ribbit Capital, TLV Partners and Zeev Ventures also participated. According to Crunchbase, Next Insurance aims to fill in the market gaps left by insurance brokers that are not always familiar with the particular needs of small businesses. The company’s website lets small business owners choose insurance products based on their industries and needs. Reports said the company will use the investment to expand into new verticals, including retail after initially focusing on construction SMBs and professional services firms. The company also plans to hire new staff and further invest in its back-end infrastructure, reports added.

Oasis Labs

What’s a venture capital roundup without an appearance from a blockchain startup? This week, it comes from Oasis Labs, which revealed $45 million in new funding. The company helps other businesses adopt blockchain technologies, acknowledging the challenges that businesses and developers have when it comes to performance, security and other doubts about an emerging technology, reports in Cointelegraph said this week. Accel, a16z crypto, Binance and Pantera Capital participated in the investment round, reports noted, adding that the company is gearing up to offer a production version of its solution so it can receive feedback from developers.